The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) with its allies has recently been rapidly advancing into the terrorist-occupied Idlib province in the long-awaited and ongoing military offensive to liberate the entire province from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Qaeda in Syria aka al-Nusra) and its US/UK/Israeli and Turkish-backed moderate rebel allies.
The SAA has finally had enough of the Turkish/Russian-brokered ceasefires, which are never applied to the Turkish-backed terrorists in Idlib, who have refused to comply with a single one. For the past year, Turkey has kept Syria from re-taking control of Idlib by brokering various ceasefires with Russia’s help, which the SAA has repeatedly agreed to.
The only problem is that every single time one of these ceasefires are implemented, the terrorists in Idlib immediately reject them and step up their attacks against SAA positions and Syrian civilians in government-controlled territory, including in Aleppo. Upon repeat violations of the ceasefire agreement by Turkish-backed militants in Idlib causing damage, injury and death to the Syrian side, the SAA then responds with counterattacks, and is immediately condemned for ‘violating’ the ceasefire. In many of these cases the SAA also launched small-scale offensives and pushed just a bit further into Idlib, before Turkey would negotiate the next ceasefire with Russia, and the SAA would halt its military advances, before HTS and its allies would once again step up attacks in order to sabotage the ceasefire.
This repeated cycle of failed ceasefires has been ongoing for over a year, and though it has greatly impeded Syria’s ability to liberate Idlib from terrorist control, it has allowed the SAA to slowly whittle away at the terrorist-occupied territory as it very slowly expands control over the region during the intense battles in between these ceasefires.
From the beginning, it was Turkey’s duty agreed upon in these ceasefire regimes to separate the moderate head-chopping rebels and brave White Helmet chemical attack hoaxing medical rescuers from HTS and the extremist terrorists, which they have never been able or willing to do. Neither have the moderate rebels or their extremist terrorist counterparts been willing to uphold their end of the agreements, which has been the cessation of attacks against Syrian forces and the removal of heavy equipment from a buffer zone along the border between Syrian territory and Turkish-backed militant controlled Idlib.
It is therefore apparent that Turkey has no intention of ever forcing its proxies to adhere to the terms of these ceasefires, and is instead using the agreements as political leverage to prolong the imminent defeat of Jihadist forces occupying Idlib, in order to give them as much time as possible to reinforce their ranks and defenses. It has been apparent for months that the only long-term solution to the Idlib problem was a military solution, with the Syrian army liberating the province in a large-scale military offensive, because neither the terrorists nor their moderate head-chopping allies were willing to negotiate a political solution.
In the latest such wide-scale ceasefire-violation by HTS and its allies, Syria decided it had enough of Turkey’s games, and that the time for broken agreements with the terrorists was over, while the time for complete liberation of Idlib by military force had come. Russia and Syria warned the moderate Turkish-backed rebels to get out of the way, or they would be destroyed along with the terrorists.
And so began the long-awaited large-scale SAA offensive to finally purge Idlib of the western-backed imperialist genocidal Jihadists who have been occupying this region for the entire duration of the 8-year western-backed proxy war to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad and destroy Syria.
Keep in mind that Idlib was deemed “the largest al-Qaeda safe haven since 9/11,” by White House appointed anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk, who called it a “big problem” in comments made in July, 2017.
It has only become a larger al-Qaeda safe haven and bigger problem in the two and a half years since. President Assad and the SAA have now moved to take care of that problem, once and for all.
The SAA military advance has been swift and effective. By the end of the month, the Syrian Army had liberated the key town of Maarat al-Numan, along with several other towns and villages in southern Idlib and southwestern Aleppo, and secured control over much of the M5 highway formerly under militant control. Maarat Al-Numan was a key strategic stronghold for the Idlib militants, used to launch numerous attacks in the region, and its loss to the Syrian Army is a devastating blow to the Idlib occupiers.
Summary of last week’s advance in the SouthFront video below:
The terrorists, though suffering a number of casualties, have been entirely unable to hold their defensive line, and have not put up much of a fight but are instead quickly fleeing in large numbers towards Idlib City and the Turkish border. HTS has carried out a number of counterattacks, but these have not been successful at turning the tide of the battle, and the terrorist defenses continue to crumble in the face of the SAA advances.
The SAA appears to be continuing to advance rapidly this week, liberating numerous villages south of Idlib and on the outskirts of Aleppo along the M5 highway, quickly working towards complete control over the M5 highway in order to open the major artery between Damascus and Aleppo - one of the first major strategic goals of this offensive.
Syria is working its way north up the M5 highway from al-Numan and south from Aleppo. Liberating the towns and villages in the Aleppo countryside is crucial to the security of civilians in Aleppo, as terrorists have used their close proximity in this area to launch deadly attacks against Aleppo resident on numerous occasions, and the ceasefire has allowed the terrorists to maintain these positions so they can continue to carry out such terrorist attacks on a regular basis.
One larger such attack took place in November of 2018, when the terrorists carried out a chemical attack on an Aleppo neighborhood by launching chlorine-filled shells into the city, injuring over 100 people.
The SAA has now begun to outflank and encircle Saraqeb, the last major militant stronghold between the advancing Syrian forces and Idlib City, the center of the province, and a very strategic key town that sits on the crossroads of the M4 and M5 highways.
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During this most recent advance, the SAA has managed to gain control over a section of the M4 highway in Idlib province for the first time in eight years, and has cut off militant supply and travel between Idlib and Saraqeb.
Turkey has done its best to halt or at least slow the advancing Syrian and allied forces, but so far all attempts to do so have been in vain. It continues to reinforce the Idlib terrorists with Turkish weapons, equipment, and troop; Turkish military convoys have been crossing the Turkish border into Idlib province from Turkey, to set up new observation posts and establish military positions in an attempt to deter the SAA advance.
The attempt to use Turkish NATO soldiers as human shields to protect the terrorists and slow the Syrian advance has yet to have had any success. The SAA has already encircled three such observation posts in the past weeks during its advance, so continuing to establish even more new observation posts will likely fail to deter the Syrian Army.
After all, on February 3, an SAA shelling of terrorist positions fortified with Turkish forces killed at least six Turkish soldiers and injured seven others, showing that not only are Turkish forces fighting alongside the terrorists, but also that such a Turkish military presence among the terrorists will not stop Syrian attacks on terrorist positions. Last week a Syrian airstrike destroyed a Turkish military vehicle. And on February 2, air strikes against Turkish proxy forces in the town of al-Bab north of Aleppo in the Turkish-occupied province of Afrin put an end to clashes in the area which broke out the day before when Turkish-backed militants had attacked positions of the SAA and Kurdish SDF in the region.
Nonetheless Turkish forces have established several positions and an observation post near Saraqeb, and a convoy of Turkish troops and weapons also arrived in Idlib City, where the establishment of another Turkish observations post is reportedly underway. Turkey apparently intends to continue to use its troops as human shields despite the practice so far failing to deter the SAA from attacking the terrorists and advancing further into Idlib
On January 31, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to attack Syrian forces if the military offensive on Idlib were not halted.
So far this appears to have been an empty threat, however, and has not deterred the advancing SAA. Although the Turkish Defense Ministry claims its forces attacked numerous Syrian military sites in retaliation for the attack on its soldiers, and President Erdogan claimed over 30 Syrian soldiers were killed in the revenge strikes, no casualties were reported on the Syrian side, and the Russian Center for Reconciliation confirmed that no Turkish fighter jets had breached Syrian airspace, and no Turkish attacks on government positions had been recorded.
The US did condemn the Syrian attack on Turkish forces as a “grave escalation,” as part of its ongoing propaganda war aimed at protecting the terrorists and vilifying Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, though.
In their bid to protect their proxies in Idlib, the US and Turkey have both accused the Syrians of violating and impeding the ceasefire, apparently forgetting that the terrorists and their moderate rebel allies have consistently been the instigators of ceasefire violations for over a year now. These larger steps being taken towards liberating the entire province from terrorist control by Syria and her allies only follows months of unprovoked attacks and countless hundreds of ceasefire violations and sabotages carried out by HTS and allies.
Turkey has complained that the fighting is creating a humanitarian disaster by displacing thousands of civilians which are fleeing to the Turkish border. The US has condemned both Syria and Russia of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, from the onset harshly condemning the “ruthless” offensive and accusing Syria of engaging in “barbaric attacks”.
These two are unaware or unwilling to recognize that before launching this offensive, Syria with the help of Russian Military Police established civilian corridors, for civilians to flee Idlib; but HTS and its allies largely prevented any civilians from fleeing, turning them away at gunpoint or charging exorbitant rates nobody could afford to be allowed to exit the terrorist-occupied enclave. Besides, neither the US nor Turkey seemed all that concerned when al-Nusra along with their moderate head-chopping rebel proxy forces were displacing millions of Syrians from their homes during their brutal war to overthrow Assad.
As Saraqeb looks set to fall to the Syrians this week, and Idlib City not long after that, it is no wonder the US empire is beginning to freak out. After eight years of funding, arming, training and protecting al-Qaeda terrorists alongside numerous affiliated moderate Jihadi rebel proxies in order to topple Assad and destroy Syria, their precious proxy forces are about to be completely destroyed and wiped off the face of the map. They have lost the war, and are about to lose one of the last footholds they have left in the country, and they are desperate to do anything in their power to keep it as long as they can.
This time, the Syrian offensive on Idlib truly does threaten the moderate head-chopping rebel’s ‘last bastion of freedom’. The Syrian Army’s successful advance is in the process of destroying the very last seedlings of democracy in Idlib, planted by the heroic leader of the HTS freedom-fighters, Mr. al-Julani.
Typically in the past, when the terrorists are backed into a corner and on the verge of defeat in an area, they have resorted to staging chemical attacks with the help of the White Helmet ‘rescuers’, which are then blamed on President Assad and the Syrian Army, in order to offer the pretext for western intervention in an attempt to get the US to come to their rescue by attacking the SAA. It works every time. Most recently, this scenario unfolded in early April of both 2017 and 2018, and both times garnered large-scale missile strikes on Syrian government facilities.
It should be expected then, that such a scenario is at this time again very likely to unfold, and becomes more likely by the day as the SAA continues to successfully advance, Turkish interference and western propaganda proves ineffective at pressuring Syria to halt its offensive, and the terrorists continue to lose ground causing their total defeat to become more imminent with every passing moment.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry warned of this in a letter to the UN at the beginning of this latest offensive, on January 27. SANA reported:
...the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said that it has become known to everyone that whenever terrorist groups feel cornered, the “White Helmets” terrorist group begins staging fake chemical attacks upon the instructions of their masters in Western states in order to accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons and create a pretext for a military attack on Syria led by Washington and its allies.
And now, as the terrorists are surely beginning to feel truly cornered, locals have warned the Russian Center for Reconciliation that the White Helmets and al-Qaeda terrorists are indeed making preparations to stage another such chemical attack provocation in Idlib province near Aleppo on one of the two major fronts of the ongoing SAA advance.
RT reported that on Monday evening, January 3, the White Helmets
...were noticed arriving at the town of Ma’arat al-Artik, about 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of Aleppo. According to the call that came in on the reconciliation center’s hotline on Monday evening, they were preparing a “provocation with the use of poisonous agents.”
About 15 ‘White Helmets’ were spotted in the town, alongside militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – an Al-Qaeda affiliate previously known as Al-Nusra – said two local residents, adding that two vehicles have delivered about 400 liters (100 gallons) of chemicals to the town.
The Reconciliation Center even named the militant commander involved in the plan as Mahi al-Din al-Am, RT explained, “saying it was the same man who helped stage and film the graphic aftermath of the alleged chemical attack at Khan Shaykhun in April 2017.”
But not only is the chemical provocation in the process of being prepared, the White Helmets have also already shot a video of the upcoming false flag attack, a fake ‘Assad chemical attack’, the Russian MoD announced on Tuesday. The footage produced by the White Helmets will be released on social media platforms soon, where it is expected to be picked up by pro-militant Arab and western media outlets, the military said.
This is exactly what has happened in the past, where such video footage is then used as the sole evidence of a chemical attack by the Syrian Army, to justify US attacks on Syria.
Production of the new film was concluded on Tuesday in the village of Zerba, located in the militant-controlled part of Syria's Idlib province, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation has said, citing several independent sources.
The video, shot by the notorious White Helmets group in cooperation with local terrorists, purports to show the aftermath of a "chemical attack" on civilians by Syria's government troops.
The footage, according to the MoD, shows 'rescuers' wandering around in a thick plume of "mustard-colored gas" and attending to the 'victims' of the staged "attack."
Keep in mind that Russia also accurately predicted the past two such false flag attacks, in April of both 2017 and 2018.
Western media and government officials are always quick to dismiss such predictions as nothing but Russian propaganda, to cover for the imminent gassing of his own people by the cruel and heartless President Assad by the war criminal Russian regime.
According to this theory, Assad is an evil dictator who greatly enjoys gassing his very own people whom many members of his own forces have died to liberate from brutal occupation by the moderate head-chopping rebels. Furthermore, he always decided to carry out such chemical attacks when he is on the verge of defeating said rebel, knowing this is about the only thing that will ensure a western missile strike against him. He does so with chemicals that were destroyed years ago, always in front of cameras, and despite the fact that such chemical weapons are not nearly as effective as any number of conventional weapons the SAA actually does have in its arsenal. He does it anyway, just to make the innocent civilians suffer even more.
It is both extremely relevant and terribly important to keep in mind that the last such ‘chemical attack’ by ‘evil Assad’ in Douma turned out to be neither carried out by the Syrian Army, nor was it even a chemical attack at all, but rather a completely fabricated staged hoax (that nonetheless involved the murder of innocent civilians to be used in the staging of the fake attack by the terrorists). This has now been established as a fact, as the evidence proving this is so overwhelming, while at the same time there is still to this day a complete and utter lack of even a single shred of evidence whatsoever of any chemical attack being carried out in Douma.
OPCW investigator Ian Henderson, the inspection team leader who headed up the Douma investigation, recently addressed the UN, saying his view was that there was no chemical attack in Douma.
The evidence for this view was so overwhelming even before Ian Henderson addressed the UN, due to a number of OPCW whistleblowers coming forward, that even Tucker Carlson on Fox News felt compelled to do a segment exposing the truth about the staged Douma gas attack hoax
Even in 2017 it was evident the White Helmets were behind the chemical attack at Khan Shaykhun in April of that year, and that the true conspiracy nuts were those who bought into the absurd official story, the only true conspiracy theory out there.
Syria and Russia didn’t have to warn us that the White Helmets were preparing to stage another chemical attack to be blamed on Assad, for those familiar with the situation to suspect that plans to carry out such a false flag operation were in the works, and the preparations already underway. As it became evident that western pressure was doing nothing to slow the advancing SAA offensive on Idlib, it was naturally assumed by many that such plans by the White Helmets had already been set into motion.